Alumina Nanolayers on NiAl Alloys

The structure of alumina on NiAl(l 1 0) was the subject of a surface X-ray diffraction study by Stierle et al. [46]. The model derived by Stierle et al. from the analysis of the X-ray diffraction data was based on a strongly distorted double layer of hexagonal oxygen ions, where the Al ions are hosted with equal probability on octahedral- and tetrahedral-coordinated sites the resulting film structure was closely related to bulk k-A1203. An attractive feature of Stierle s model was that it provided a natural explanation of the domain structure of the alumina overlayer, which is induced by a periodic row matching between film and substrate lattices. However, as pointed out recently by Kresse et al. [47], this structure model has two bonds with 

In summary, the alumina nanolayers formed by the high-temperature oxidation on NiAl alloy surfaces are structurally and chemically very different from the bulk-terminated surfaces of the various A1203 phases, and they thus provide very prototypical examples of oxide phases with novel emergent properties because of interfacial bonding and thickness confinement effects. 

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